The Don's Diary - 22 August Entry

So, Most of you know/remember that I turned 3, Last Week. This is the First Birthday I celebrated in this strange land where people call me bittu...food smells everywhere on the street...There is a bike, another car and a man within six inches of my nose, when the window is rolled down in my car...there are a gazillion creatures on the road - dad tells me they are doggies too...a land where news channels say "Pasivaadini champina roddu Kukka - Break tarvaatha choodandi" about 30 times a day... Where people strike and stage bandhs for a frikkin separate state which I hear would be an utter waste but don't care to hoots for a fellow countryman struggling to curb corruption ... where traffic policemen are at every junction and guess what, those are the junctions with the worst traffic ... where some guy has a net worth of 1 lakh bones and is greedy for more, but no one says a thing ... where the Doctor's office is unclean and the doctors give me more injections than the words they use to talk to me...I miss Banfield and the cute doc there...I miss the sunday football games(Well I actually miss the snack), I miss the booze parties in the own large backyard, I miss people calling me with MY name - Vito (Not Weetoo or Bittu), I miss everything that is big in Texas...I miss Texas, Dallas, My home, my Vet... Dad says, its okay ra vito gaadu, Not sure what is okay...missing all that or...... :( ....

I got some good presents this time, I got a bunch of XL bones ( Oh wait don't get excited, XL in India is Small in Texas), I got a nice Red Jersey that Momma bought me, I got a delicious pineapple cake....and I got something that is totally Legen....Wait for it...dary......Chaacha created a FB account for me!!! How cool...But WTH man...Dad takes both his i-pad and laptop with him (God knows where he goes every morning) and momma take her i-pad, Locks her MAC (Yeah can you imagine locks her computer, never tells me the passwords) ....God Bless Chaachu for the nice thought, I will keep updating when I can, and do follow me....One thing I totally missed on my Birthday was the crowd...My last two birthdays were an absolute blast, but this one was more laid back with just Mom and Dad...I guess thats cool at least Dad was on time..

India is cool over all...Met my Grandparents for the first time - both maternal and paternal...the ice cream's great, the Ghee is awesome, more yummy than the stupid packets in Texas, oh wait!!! Did I mention Mangoes? Oh man! The awesomest mangoes in my life, and Haleem Baby! I thot dad made the best haleem on the planet, but the hyderabadi haleem is something else, its pure bliss....For these things, staying back in hyderabad - heck yeah!...The food here is better than the one I ate back there, so I don't crave for the meat anymore...I am working on my Six Pack, finally I get some time to focus on my Bod - remember I am an eligible bachelor now...if only my Dad would understand what I mean...Hey btw, can someone tell my dad....Beta Javaan Hua, Soncho Zara ....

A'right my beloved Texans ... Just wanted to say Howdy!

The Family feels Complete

I confess, I was very nervously excited when Mithun finally said "All done ra annayya, Vito is on his way" my hands and in fact my entire body was trembling, and to this date, 4 days since all this happened I cannot term what I felt at that exact minute, when I heard " Vito is on his way"...But I will tell you what it meant a great deal...Mithun made it possible, Sundeep made it happen! Like a relay race!!  I called Sundeep (The guy who made the last lap happen) and said Thank You...but english as a language is so poor, that the word Thank You did not seem to convey how much I really meant to Thank him..... I was short of words...For the next few minutes I just stood in the patio, making gestures with my arms, and celebrating like a bowler does when he gets Sachin's wicket...all this at 4AM ...That part, that little part of that night was happiness...I had tears in my eyes, I was at a loss for words, I was walking around the apartment in what seemed to be moon walk...I couldn't feel a thing, I was pumping my fists, punching the air...Felt like I had achieved what I wanted and there was nothing in this world which could spoil the moment for me, I was living the moment...The moment me and Punnu were waiting for since the day I decided to stay back in India for longer than what was planned...At that moment it struck me, if I am sitting in a cabin well above the engines, and I feel the vibrations and the noise as much as I do, how would Vito be in the belly of the aircraft...My heart sank...I remember Diwalis were a nightmare for Saathi, my little pommie, as I know for a fact that Dogs hear much more than us humans do...I said to myself, what the hell did I get Vito into, he's going to hate it...

I did not say a word to Punnu, I just said am very excited and happy...Punnu was down with fever all day, and was resting...The count down started with Punnu looking at her i-Pad for the flight status every few minutes, and we were like, why is 20 hours taking such a long time...It felt like an eternity...We weren't hungry, we weren't thirsty, Punnu did not care about the fever, or medication...It almost seemed like everything else had little to no significance at all at that moment...Me and Punnu started slowly getting ready for that ride to the airport which infact felt like eternity...Hitech city to the new airport is about 15 minute drive - Just FYI...Just as we were getting close, the call came...It was Sundeep - to tell us that they had arrived safely...I then confessed to Punnu that I was indeed very nervous..and she agreed...

I parked, walked / ran toward the arrivals, waved my little NOC for Vito and lied, the guy needs it inside and wants me to bring it in...I was allowed to go past Customs, to the baggage claim area...I went and found Sundeep, who told me that Vito was doing fine, and pointed me in the general direction where Vito was...I walked over, ever so slowly...peeped into the crate, and found Vito lying in between his toys, breathing heavily, I called out to him, "Vito Gaadu" Instantly like he jumped and turned in the crate facing me, and started squeaking and planting his trademark wet kissed through the crate and moaning and making sounds only a parent can ever understand...the look we exchanged is something I can never forget in my entire life... Tears rolled down my eyes...and he happily licked them away... People gathered around me asking me all sorts of questions about him...I answered most of them anyway, met Sundeep gave him a man hug, and Thanked him...Went out side and gave Punnu a simple run down on the expressions and the sounds from him...saw a tear trickle down her cheek...

We waited for 12 whole minutes, and finally the Don Vito of Dallas, TX arrived after passing Customs and we unlock him out of his crate and the first thing he does is he leaps onto punnu for a bear hug, then me...I lift him off the ground and hold him for a couple minutes, instantly following which he jumps into the open trunk, slides to the far end of the trunk and refuses to come out....Thats when I realized how much the plane ride had freaked him out...Strangely the first thing I noticed oddly enough is, his Black nose has turned pinkish...:) Never mind he's still Vito ;)...

Can you beat it the crate was clean and fresh...Vito held his bowels for 24 straight hours...and let loose once we forced him out the trunk...I was proud of my boy..

We arrived at home, and he started going into each room, "Aachi thoochi adugulu vesaadu" for the first few minutes, then the Master Bedroom, and sprawls across on the bed, waits for me and punnu for a huddle...I turned to Punnu and said, The Family feels complete now!

He has been acting very insecure for the past 3 days, during which he was completely under Punnu's Vigil and last night finally, I got to see my boy The Vito Singaraju I know!!! Like a Lion, all Grace all Elegance!

The Family indeed feels complete Now!

Grown ups man!

So on Tuesday chaacha takes me to banfield and leaves me there for a few hours..I am sitting there going I had all my shots and stuff done, over 6 months ago, then what the heck am I doing here, well these sons of guns are beyond my comprehension...they never keep me in the loop...any who, on wednesday he is out of the house at 3 frikkin AM man! Returns around midnight and says bamboo yu going to daddy, am like whatever, go to bed...Thursday night all my uncles and aunts in dallas show up, and are being all nice to me, hugging kissing and what ever else not...have no clue what's going on...Friday around noon chaachu take me to the airport and put me in this big ass crate and says bye bamboo..I cried yelled and begged and pleaded not to leave me and go to no avail...now here I am, I think this is a plane but dad always tells me it's uncomfortable in a plane and guess what uncomfortable is an understatement...I landed in what seemed like a land where they spoke a strange tongue, dint understand a word, but from gestures me and a fellow American buddy who boarded the plane along with me in Dallas figured they wanted us to get out of the crate , stretch and get some food, and one of the boards said Frankfurt, Germany...so I have visited a second continent...the next flight is to Hyderabad , no clue where chaachu sent me off ...I think he is upset as I am not being at my best behavior..:( ...but I can't change it now...I heard from my buddy here that they have great food in hyderabad doesn't sound as bad after all...it's dark in here cold and am hungry...I hate flights...they are retarded...I hear an announcement that we are about to land, lemme have a biryani when I land, and hope this third world country has some kind of Internet, so I can keep you guys posted...okay guys pray for me, some nicer bones and some good biryani and hopefully some dosas...cheers..


- Posted from my i-Pad

Your attention please

Yaathriyon krupaya dhyaan de...lufthansa udaan sankhya LH439 kuch hee der mein Hyderabad ke Rajiv Gandhi international airport mein pahoonche wali hai, yaathriyon se nivedhan hai kee woh Don Vito ka khule haath swaagath Kare....

My boy, vito is arriving in less than an hour, can't wait....dad and son re-united after over 3 months!!!!


- Posted from my i-Pad

Location:@home

Miss You Big Boy!

Most of you heard the saametha " subbi Pelli venky saavukochindhi" thats how my boy feels right now...left to india with a promise of being back in a few weeks, dint quite work out, leaving my boy at the kennel for over 8 weeks...it was really a military training experience for him...he's a soldier now, suddenly , NO means NO! No more pulling on the leash, no more barking when not needed, no begging for table food, no pouncing on you the moment you get back home...I hear all these from my bro, who went back and the first thing I say is, " hey yu sure yu picked vito?" all happy...then he tells me he is more controlled and soldier like very courteous and all that, I say, but hey where is Vito ? Makes me wonder if the training tagged with boarding was a bad idea...should have known better...

Me and my wife, (hey yeah! Am married now...turning from a yuppie to a dink in a wink)...are considering moving to India or spending some time down here, and that may mean mr. Vito Singaraju may well be on his first flight trip, and a very long one at that pretty soon..am super excited at the very thought, and can only imagine the ride from the airport back home..

All this apart, I miss my boy, really do...but I guess dads can't really have their emotions show up like moms do....let me leave it at that...

Love you vito , really do, and can't wait for the bear hug, and the sloppy kisses, you the only one at the moment who is making my stay here not very happy...hoping to see you soon my boy!

Top secret ra bamboo ga....I found a hot little blondie for you, oh yeah! Way hotter than your first crush - kiara...

Now I bet you can't wait to come here...

Love,

- Posted from my i-Pad

Location:Hyderabad, IN

The don and I

My little one has been having me only the weekends for about 8 months now...he complained he cried he looked dejected but daddy could not change his schedule! Work has been hectic and I end up working most weekends, which add to his woes, not to mention punnus !

Vito has been very good the past few months except that look he gave me when we moved to a new home. The yard is kind of smaller and without a fence. The look he gives me says, " ailaa dad yeh tho shuru hothe hee khatham hogaya" are you sure we gonna live here? Newho! Whatever man is what he resigns to! A new thing he's learnt is, I leave the door open, and say stay while I go to get his leash, he's waiting for me and not running through the open door. It made me proud the first time, and makes my heart melt with love every time he does it!

The good thing is punnu now has a job in Dallas with little travel so, he gets her full attention and of course my brother is here too and he's ever ready to spoil vito, so all is well.

My boy has a problem! It is actually quiet complicated. There is only two things you can do when at home,
1. Play / engage him in an activity
2. Look at him or talk about him

That is the minimum level of attention you can give him! No TV, no games, no chatting amongst yourselves , unless you are prepared for the fiercest growl followed by a loud shout of agony or anger or whatever you want to call it. So a simple tip, if you want to be on the dons good side, do one of the 2 things afore mentioned. But hey who can resist not doing one of the two? He's so cute with his expressive eyes loving gaze don't forget the bear hug which makes you feel loved.

Every time I walk in the house, he makes me feel like a war hero or something! I realize how much I missed him and more importantly how much he missed me. Last week when I went home it was after dinner time, and my boy had not eaten yet....all I said was vito go eat your food, and off he went came back 10 mins later....a look which said done dad! Love in it's purest form....

You know like they say, Be the man your dog thinks you are, and am striving for it ;) it is so true!







- Posted from my i-Pad

Location:Somewhere in the sky between Atlanta and DES moines

Who says flying is better than driving

Airplanes I was led into believing were for the comfort of travellers. Everytime I board an airline it makes me wonder if I have been misled into believing so! Seriously! Baggage fee, rude flight attendants, less than comfortable seats, what's next? You need to pay a fee to use the inboard restrooms, and pay for breathing on the plane( would you like to breathe when you are on board sir? That would be 25$) I tell you, whoever is planning a business should be in this industry! What a business model! Airports boy! I tell you...they are supposed to make your travel more secure and make this a safer world!whoever came up with this new idea of not having more than 3 oz containers should be applauded! This was made more as a revenue generator for the airplanes than the security of the passengers.

I am in Atlanta and this has for some strange reason has not been on my list of good cities, the traffic sucks and that's fine, I can live with that. The climate sucks oh! Well am from tx what am I complaining about! Damn the airport is retarded! I am a frequent flyer and have been to a lot of airports but none like ATL ever! It took me 70 minutes to get from checking in to get to my gate! Single point of entry, whoever designed this made a ton of money and the contractor too but someone sure did forget about the comfort or ease of access. There were 20 flights lined up for takeoff and this plane I am on now was on time leaving from the gate, but took off 20 minutes late, and what ticks me off is, my buddy who was at the gate 9 minutes before take off time was not allowed to board because he not there 10 minutes before! ( no fault of his it took him 75 minscheckin to gate)Oh well whatever makes sense to them! God bless these folks!

SWA is the happiest airline...I mean the attendants are happy, the travelers are happy, the pilot is cracking a joke before we get going, even the phone agents I call into are happy...guess what bags fly free too...yay!!
Neways....the bottom line being I would prefer to drive 24 hours if I had the time than fly a mean airline....



- Posted from my i-Pad

Location:Enroute Des Moines